A look back...September 2007 Freebie Fractal

Back in mid-September of 2007 I was introduced to the website xs-collectibles.com where I fell in love with the freebie that month so I printed it off and started.

These are just a few of the pictures of the progression of the piece. It took me about 9 months to complete this "bookmark" as the website calls it. I did this piece on 28ct monaco and the finished piece is 3 1/2"x 9", I'd hate to see the book they think these would fit into easily!!

This pattern was definitely a challenge for me. It was the first piece I'd ever done on such this type of material (smallest stitches and first even weave), it had over 92 different colors in it (lots of confetti stitches in this one!!) and first full coverage piece I've ever done.

Probably the smartest thing I did with this piece (which was also another first for me) was gridding the fabric with fishing line. If I hadn't done that I would have been so lost as to what color went where. You can see the gridding in the first and second photos. Some of the colors were so close in tint and hue that without the gridding I wouldn't have been able to count and figure it out.

I did this entire piece using my 3" embroidery hoop (hadn't yet discovered Q-Snaps!) which meant I was moving the hoop quite often but it did keep the fabric very taut also.

I finished this piece in mid-July and framed it myself. It was entered in the Hebron Harvest Fair in September 2007. It was one of three pieces entered in the framed category (I was only allowed to enter one framed piece even though I had more). I was thrilled when my "small" piece was the one that was awarded the blue ribbon in the framed country cross stitch category. The final picture is of it at the Fair.

The Frogs came to visit...

Well this piece of BoInk is taking me longer than I expected...and the frogs came to visit...as I was working on the red last night I realized that the blue at the bottom of the piece was "off". Finding an end to pull out was probably the hardest. I got the blue "oops" out, finished the red and then re-stitched the blue that had been wrong.

Today I'll continue with the green and maybe even get some of the orange and or yellow in too...Saturdays are one of those days I get a big piece of time to work on stitchery while I wait for my daughter during her 90 minute gymnastics class. If I stitch quick enough and the frogs stay away maybe I'll even get it finished and get to do some work on Blackstone Fantasy Garden which has fallen to the side this weekend.

Tomorrow, my husband is registered to run in a snow shoe race in Guilderland, NY so I may get some time then to work on stitchery too. The kids and I go along for "support crew" but depending on the race I get time to stitch or chase the kids around.

Until next time...stay warm!!!

Egads it's cold outside!!!!

With it is so cold out here (-1ºF at 9:32 in the morning- Southern New England isn't supposed to get this cold!!) you'd think I'd be getting lots of stitching done...unfortunately NOT...

Thursdays are a busy day here with the kids. I volunteer at my daughter's school in the morning and my son's in the afternoon. I then pick her up after school so we can get him to gymnastics...and then we don't get home until dinner time so it is a matter of slipping in a stitch here or there...


Here is where I'm at on BoInk and I haven't put in a single stitch on Blackstone Fantasy Garden since Tracy at Ink Circles released this latest piece of Book of InkCircles...can you tell I LOVE Tracy's designs at Ink Circles (I have two others in the to-do pile also)...




Here is hoping everyone is staying warm and safe in these cold days here in the US...

BoInk & BSFG- Don't you love abbreviations???

Hello Everyone-

It has been a crazy couple of days here, which has kept me from updating this blog. Unfortunately, with it being so busy I also haven't gotten to do much stitching either.

Yesterday (January 13th) was the date the next installment of Book of Ink Circles was due out. I completely forgot about the date until Gail J posted a note on the BoInk yahoo group wondering where the file was...shortly there after Tracy posted the file. Of course, I was busy getting ready for my Lions Club meeting last night so wasn't able to just drop what I was doing and get stitching. So after my meeting last night I got to start on it. Didn't get too much done but it is a start and I'll work on it more tonight and maybe get it done for tomorrow or the day after.


Here is my work on Blackstone Fantasy Garden to date... this picture shows my work through Monday (1/12) morning...

and this is what I've done through this morning...it is put aside for a day or two while I do the BoInk section...

Thanks for looking...I think tomorrow I'll show my update on BoInk and review a piece I've done in the past...

DH keeps me from stitching!!

This is the stitching I got accomplished on Friday between getting kids to school, pediatrician and chipping the ice off the driveway before the impending storm arrives.



And this is the little bit I got accomplished on Saturday morning.


Didn't get to do very much stitching yesterday in getting ready to go to my father-in-law's birthday party last night. Took longer than usual to get ready to go out there because we also packed "just in case" overnight bags because of predicted storm "Carlos".

We got home (with of course leaving the kids at grandma & grandpa's because grandma wouldn't allow them to travel in the bad weather- we came home so the dog could go out last night and this morning) with no difficulties (most people stayed home because of the "weather" the weathermen were threatening with.

When we woke up this morning there is about 5-6 inches of white stuff on the ground (boy am I glad I spent the time on Friday chipping up the ice coating off the driveway!!). Well, my dh decided that I've had enough "indoor" time lately and insisted that we go for a hike in our local "park". Now let me tell you, this isn't a park like Central Park (NY) or Hyde Park (London) this is a small piece of land that our town has purchased next to some land owned by the state of CT and it has a trail that leads to the blue blazed trail (Shenipsit trail) http://www.ctwoodlands.org/blue-blazed-hiking-trails system of Connecticut.

So off we went for a hike and here are some photos from the excursion.



The ice on the edge of the rail cut throughs is beautiful too...



Sunny had a great time on the hike too!!



And now I'll get some stitching time in, while dh tries to get out of this predicament...

(No husband's were hurt in the making of this blog!! LOL)